Magnetic door holder



July 11, 1950 B. s. BERNHARD MAGNETIC DOOR HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 24, 1945 1 I 1 l i Q) INVENTOR Bezy'ama'mSBeflzka/n BY ATTORNEY Patented July 11 MAGNETIC DOOR HOLDER Benjamin S. Bernhard, New Britain, Conn., as-

signor to The American Hardware Corporation,- New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application October 24, 1945, Serial No. 624,208

'2 Claims. 01. 2924) My invention relates to a magnetic door holder.

There are many advantages to magnetic means I for holding a door in position, for example, closed' or open. A magnetic door holder maybe arranged to hold the door in position with any desired degree of force, but of course the effort required for opening the door depends upon the degree of force exerted by the magnetic means and where the magnetic means exerts a strong holding force, the effort required to open the door becomes excessive. When a magnetic means for holding the door, say in closed position, is employed in conjunction with a door closer, the

action of the latter is greatly assisted by the magnetic means during the final small closing movement of the door, but when the door is closed, the efiort of the door closer and the magnetic means are combined'and the physical effort required to open the 'door may be excessive.

It is the general object of my invention, therefore, to provide a magnetic door holder which will possess all of the advantages inherent in such a door holder and yet will not require great physical efi'ort to move the door from held position.

It is a further and more specific object to provide means for readily moving a door from the extreme position in which it is held by magnetic means.

vdoor movement.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on Fig. 5.

Briefly stated, in a preferred form of the invention I employ magnetic means including a magnet and a keeper for holding a door in desired position, A part of the magnetic means is carried by the door, while a cooperating part of the magnetic means is carried by a door casing or other part arranged relatively to the door so as to hold the door in desired position. I employ mechanical means for readily breaking the magnet and its keeper away from each other so as to facilitate Such means for breaking the the line B8 of Still more specifically, it is an object of the invention to. provide improved mechanical means for readily breakingthe holding force exerted by a magnet in holding a door or the like in position. Other objects and various features of novelty and invention will be hereinafter pointed out or will become apparent to those skilled in the art. In the drawings which show, for illustrative purposes only, preferred forms of the invention- Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view on a horizontal plane through a door and door casing and illustrating one form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a generally sectional view taken subv stantially in the plane of the line 2 --2a of Fig. 1, a part of the handle mechanism back of the section planebeing shown in the plane 2a2b merely arranged to be operated independently of movement of the door, though in its broader aspect the invention contemplates merely mechanical means for readily breaking the magnet and its keeper away from each other regardless of whether the door moves or does not move during such operation, but so arranged as to require the exercise of a manual force smaller than the force of the magnet holding the keeper. As has been indicated, my improved magnetic holder may be employed for holding the door in any desired position, but is particularly advantageous for holding a door in closed position or in some predetermined open position.

In' that form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 4, there is illustrated a metal door casing 5 of more or less conventional form, and a fragment of a metal door 6 in closed position on the casing. Magnetic means, including a permanent magnet and a keeper, are carried by the door and casing so that when the door approaches closed position, the magnetic means will draw the door and hold the same in final or closed position. The permanent magnet and its keeper are arranged for relative movement so that one of the elements may be moved away from the other to break the magnetic force holding the keeper to the magnet. In the form illustrated by way of example, the magnet is held in fixed position and the keeper is arranged for movement away from the magnet.

In the form illustrated, the magnet, designated generally 1, is attached to the door casing 5, and the keeper, designated generally 8, is carried by the door and is arranged for relative movement away from the magnet, and the parts are sewnstructed that the breakingaway of the keeper from the magnet requires the exertion of less manual force than the maximum holding force between the magnet and the keeper. In the form shown, the permanent magnet includes a case 9 or non-magnetic material such as brass. and a 3 block I!) of magnetized material is carried in the case. The block I ofmagnetized material may be clamped between pole plates H--l2 as by means of screws Iii-.43. A block is of material such as brass may be secured to the pole plates I l-I2 and may be secured to the housing or casing 9 as by means of screws I5|5, as will be understood, and whereby the magnet as a whole is held in the casing. The pole plates l l-I2 may be flanged inwardly as indicated particularly in Fig. 3, and the ends Iii-41, constituting the pole pieces of the magnet, may extend through the housin 9 and be located in position to cooperate with a keeper. The magnet case may be provided The keeper in the present instance is carried by the door, and the parts are ar anged so that the keeper and magnet may be re dily separated from each other. In the form illustrated, the keeper 8 comprises a heavy iron or steel plate l9, which may pro ect or be accessible through an opening in the door 6 in position tocooperate with the pole pieces Iii-ll of the magnet. The keeper plate IS, in the form shown, is mounted upon a lever 20, pivoted at 2| to a strut or other member in the door 6. The lever is provided with an an ular arm 22, and the arm and keeper plate is have coacting self-ali ning seats as indicated at 23. A rivet or other holding member 24 serves to hold the keeper plate I 9 on the lever and preferably the central o enin 25 in the kee er late is somewhat larger than the rivet so that there may be the des red degree of self-alignment oi. the plate is on the lever so that the keeper plate may all intents and purposes a fixed part of the door,

the door will be held closed by a force equal to the holding force of the particular magnet. By reason of my improved arrangement, the door may be broken away from the magnet by the exercise of a physical force much less than the holding force of the magnet. It will be seen that by pulling the handle 30 away from the door or pushing the push piece or handle 3i toward the door. the lever will be rocked about its pivot 2| and the keeper plate l9 will be pulled away from the pole pieces i6,l| oi the magnet. Due to the design of the lever, the manual force required to break the keeper plate away from the magnet will be slight compared with the holding force of \the magnet. Therefore, while the door maybe held in closed position with any desired degree of 20 force desired or required and as determined by the magnetic door holder, it is possible to open the door by the exertion oi. a relatively very limited manual force. This is an advantageous feature in any case, but it is a particularly advantageous one when the holding force of the magnet is added to theholding force of the door closer when such a door closer is' employed. A further feature of advantage in a magnetic door holder over an ordinary latching device is that as the door closely approaches closed position, the mag- 85 and the strike plate.

keeper and magnet away from each other.

always cooperate fiatwise with the pole pieces of the magnet. The head 26 of the rivet may be of spherical form and fit a spherical seat in the face of the keeper plate l9 to facilitate the self-alignment mentioned.

The lever 20 in the preferred form has a part thereof, such as a tail piece 21, which may engage an abutment 28 carried by the door. Means, such as a compression s ring 29, serves to urge the lever forwardly until it is stopped by the abutment 28, in which position the keeper plate i9 is in position to cooperate with the pole pieces i6i I when the door is closed.

The lever 20 is provided with means for manual engagement. preferably from both sides of the door. As illustrated, the lever 20 has a handle 30 on one side of the door, which may be pulled away from the side of the door, and the lever may also be provided with a push handle 3| at the opposite side of the door so that pushing of the push handle 3| toward the door or pullin ot the handle 30 away from its side of the door will rock the lever about its pivot 2| and against the spring 29 so as to draw the tail piece 2! away from the abutment 28. In the particular illustrative embodiment, the handle members 39 and SI project through suitable openings in the door and are in position and are of such size and conformation as to be readily manipulated by the hand or other part of the body.

The operation of moving the door from the closed position illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 is as follows. v

It will be understood that the keeper plate I! will be in race engagement with the pole pieces In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 4, the keepe plate is drawn directly away from the magnet, but the magnet and keeper may be separated by other movements, for example by sliding the Such an arrangement is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, wherein the magnetic device is employed for holding the door 6' in position, the particular position illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 being in the open 5 position.

The magnetic means includes a magnet 40, shown more or less conventionally, and a keeper plate ll similarly shown. One of the members l04l is carried by the door, while the other is carried by any other suitable member such as the floor, or if the arrangement of Figs. 5 and 6 be employed for holding the door. closed, the member 40 might be carried by the door casing. As illustrated, the magnet 40 is carried by the bracket 42 secured, say, to the floor as by means of screws 43. The keeper plate II is arranged for sliding movement relatively to the magnet ill and in the more or less conventional form shown the door may be provided with aslot H and the keeper plate ll may have retaining flanges 45 at the inner and outer sides of the door so that the keeper may slide up and down. I employ a member to be physically actuated, such as a foot pedal member 46, which may have an arm 41 at the inside oi the door engageable with a part of the keeper II. The part 41 may be simply a rod secured to the keeper II, as by means of a pin connection 48. The pedal member 48 may ride in the slot 44 and be provided with retaining flanges 49, as will 7 be understood. Means such as a compression the Slot ll.

foot pedal is released. the spring 50 will return the keeper 4| to its operative position shown in Fig. 6, so that it will be ready to be again attracted and held by the magnet when the door approaches the open position.

While the invention has been described in considerable detail and preferred forms illustrated, it is to be understood that many changes may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In a magnetic door holder for association with a door and door casing, a unitary door handle to be pivotally mounted on a door and including a part to be manually grasped, a, magnet member and a keeper member, one of said members being mounted on said handle so as to be movable therewith and in the direction of door opening when the handle is moved pivotally, said one magnet member being relatively close to the pivot and said manual grasping part being relatively remote from the pivot, the other of said members to be mounted on a casing in position to cooperate with the member on said handle, whereby when said handle is moved in the direction to open the door the handle will first pivot on the door and with increased mechanical advantage the member carried by the handle will be drawn away from the member on the casing and in the direction of door opening for the purpose set forth.

2. In a magnetic door-holder for association with a door and door casing, a door handle to be pivotally mounted on a door, a magnet member and a keeper member, one of said members being mounted on said handle so as to be movable therewith and in the direction of door opening when the handle is moved pivotally, the other of said members to be mounted on a casing in position to cooperate with the member on said handle, whereby when said handle is moved in the direction to open the door the handle will first pivot on the door and the member carried by the handle will be drawn away from the member on the easing and in the direction of door opening, the member carried by said handle being loosely mounted thereon for slight universal movement so that when the door is closed both members may coact fully with each other.

BENJAMIN S. BERNHARD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 478,245 Smith July 5, 1892 2,219,186 Hornfeck Oct. 22, 1940 2,230,476 Anderson Feb. 4, 1941 2,252,144 Taylor et a1 Aug. 12, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 145,325 Germany Nov. 25, 1903 

